Edward James Olmos (Actor)

Edward James Olmos arrives at the AFI Awards Luncheon 2005. (Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

About Edward James Olmos

Though widely recognized for his film and television career, actor Edward James Olmos also spent a great deal of time working for social and political causes, particularly as they have affected his native Latino heritage. Though he struggled early on in his acting career, taking bit parts in various guest spots on popular television shows in the 1970s, Olmos made the most of his success once he found it. Starting with his Tony-nominated performance in “Zoot Suit” (1978), Olmos developed into a highly-acclaimed and sought-after performer whose ability to convey both ambiguity and gravitas was widely recognized. He became a household name with his first regular series role, playing Lieutenant Martin Castillo on the cultural phenomenon “Miami Vice” (NBC, 1984-89), but then languished for a large chunk of his career taking roles in largely unseen or underappreciated feature and television projects. Occasionally, he reminded audiences of his unique talents with lauded performances in “Stand and Deliver” (1988) or “Selena” (1997), but largely remained waiting in the wings for his next significant role. It arrived in the unlikely form of Admiral William Adama on “Battlestar Galactica” (Sci Fi Channel, 2004- ), a show that Olmos felt was one of the best uses of television he had ever been a part of to date.

Born Feb. 24, 1947 in Los Angeles, CA, Olmos grew up in Boyle Heights where he was inundated by drugs, crime and street gangs, but also a wealth of ethnicities not found in most suburban neighborhoods. Surrounded by family, Olmos had a colorful history – his maternal great-grandparents published a radical newspaper during the Mexican Revolution. Meanwhile, his mother, Eleanor, insisted that all her children be well-educated, and his father, Pedro – who earned his high school diploma at age 21 after leaving Mexico City to immigrate to the United States – worked as a slaughterhouse worker and welder. When he was eight, his parents divorced; a traumatic event that had a profound effect on both his life and work ethic. He soon learned that personal discipline could alleviate his loneliness, while throwing himself head-first into his efforts gained him respect and success. He also submerged himself in baseball, becoming a Golden State batting champion when he was 14. But more importantly, the sport gave him the opportunity to see his father more regularly, as the senior Olmos loved to attend the games.

After graduation, he earned his associate’s degree in sociology at East Los Angeles College while singing and playing piano in a band he helped form, Eddie James and the Pacific Ocean. Self-admittedly a terrible singer, Olmos continued his dual life of student-musician at California State University, where he studied psychology and criminology. He also began taking theater to improve his singing, but he soon discovered that he had greater ease projecting the spoken word. Not long after, he married Kaija Keel, daughter of musical film star Howard Keel, and had two children. To support his new family, Olmos took a job delivering antique furniture while, at the same time, trying to pursue his acting career. In the mid-1970s, he began landing guest spots on “Hawaii Five-O” (CBS, 1968-1980), “Kojak” (CBS, 1973-78) and “CHiPs” (NBC, 1977-1983). In 1978, he landed the part that suddenly gained him notice, playing El Pachuco in the premiere performance of Luis Valdez’s “Zoot Suit,” a musical drama about the famous Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in 1942, where 22 Latino men were wrongfully indicted and tried on charges of murder. After runs in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum and on Broadway, Olmos earned a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award and a Tony nomination.

Thanks to the recognition he received from “Zoot Suit,” Olmos began landing bigger and better roles, many of which were of varying ethnicity, thanks to his own diverse background. After reviving El Pachuco for the film version of “Zoot Suit” (1981), he played the leader of a group of Native Americans who help a New York City detective (Albert Finney) track a supernatural species killing Manhattanites in “Wolfen” (1981), then had a small role as a ruthless, Hungarian-speaking cop with a passion for origami in “Blade Runner” (1982). He next starred in “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” (1984), playing a Mexican cowhand in 1901 who is sought for arrest after being mistaken for a similar-looking criminal. Speaking no English, he gets into further trouble when he kills a local sheriff in self-defense, triggering an 11-day manhunt by the Texas Rangers, who pursue Cortez to the Mexican border. Olmos had intense passion for the project, which was originally aired on the PBS series, “American Playhouse,” and wanted to see the film theatrically distributed. He spent two years and plenty of his own money to generate interest, mainly by showing it every weekend in a rented theater while turning down several acting jobs. The film was eventually picked up by Embassy Pictures.

His characteristic perseverance paid off again with his next project, playing the dark and ambiguous Lieutenant Martin Castillo on “Miami Vice.” Series creator Michael Mann called to make an offer, but Olmos immediately rejected the part, citing his need for a non-exclusive contract – meaning he would be allowed to make films and other projects at the same time he worked on “Vice.” Mann called back several minutes later, offering more money. Again, Olmos declined. The negotiations continued for several more phone calls, until Mann came back with a non-exclusive contract – unheard of back then, even for television’s biggest stars. Meanwhile, Olmos spent five seasons as the taciturn police lieutenant with a shaded CIA past whose black-and-white worldview – not to mention wardrobe – sharply contrasted with the flashy, pastel style of his two undercover narcotics officers, Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). Though Olmos enjoyed the series during its first season, he became increasingly disenchanted with the formulaic plots and stereotypical treatment of women. Nonetheless, Olmos remained a fixture throughout the show’s five season run, continuing to unleash his silent and deadly stare at Crockett and Tubbs to great effect.

Despite having a non-exclusive contract, Olmos appeared only a few times outside the confines of “Miami Vice.” After a small role in the religious-themed comedy “Saving Grace” (1986), he played the second husband of an Italian immigrant (Sophia Loren) struggling to raise her family in “Mario Puzo’s The Fortunate Pilgrim” (NBC, 1988). But perhaps his most widely-recognized performance – definitely of his cinematic career – came with “Stand and Deliver” (1988), a forthright and triumphant look at Jaime Escalante, a real-life teacher in East Los Angeles who manages to transform a group of supposedly at risk Latino students into math scholars able to pass the Advanced Placement exam in calculus. Olmos delivered a strong, heart-warming performance that earned him numerous critical kudos and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Also in 1988, Olmos founded Latino Public Broadcasting, a not-for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that funded fictional and non-fictional projects addressing social and cultural issues of interest to Latinos.

After “Miami Vice” left the airwaves quietly in 1989, Olmos settled into a series of roles in features and on television that were of redeeming social and political value; but it was these roles which also largely left him out of the mainstream spotlight. A supporting part as a gypsy in the true story of boxer Salamo Arouche in “Triumph of the Spirit” (1989) was followed by the lead role of a former baseball player looking to prove himself as the coach of the then-California Angels in “Talent for the Game” (1991). Olmos then made his directorial debut with “American Me” (1992), a prison drama in which he also starred as a street gang leader running the drug trade from behind bars. But when he emerges after 18 years in stir, he returns home with a vow to lead the straight life, only to be dragged back into the life by his gang buddies. After playing an incarcerated man who returns home to resume his cock fighting business in “Roosters” (1993), Olmos journeyed into erotic thriller territory in “Mirage” (1994), playing a down-on-his-luck former cop tasked with keeping watch on the beautiful, but troublesome wife (Sean Young) of a local real estate developer.

Back on the small screen, Olmos portrayed Jose Menendez, a controlling father and chairman of Carolco Entertainment who is murdered along with his wife, Kitty (Beverly D’Angelo), by his two sons (Damian Chapa and Travis Fine), in “Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills” (CBS, 1994). Olmos contributed his gruff voice to narrate “My Family/Mi Familia” (1995), a period drama set in the 1950s about three generations of the Sanchez family, who migrated from Mexico to California in order to live the American Dream. He next co-starred in “Selena” (1997), playing Abraham Quintanilla, the demanding, but ultimately loving father of would-be pop sensation Selena Quintanilla (Jennifer Lopez), whose life and career were tragically cut short when she was murdered by the disturbed president of her fan club. He co-starred in the little-seen historical thriller, “The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca” (1997), a fictional take on the real-life investigation of the murder of poet Federico Garcia Lorca during the Spanish Civil War, followed with the upbeat children’s fantasy “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit” (1998). Despite the consistent work, it was clear that Olmos was on a severe downtick in his career at that time.

After voicing The Chief in “The Road to El Dorado” (2000) and playing a police detective in the lurid thriller “Gossip” (2000), Olmos left the feature world for several years to focus once again on television. He returned to regular series duties on the short-lived drama, “American Family” (PBS, 2001-04), playing a widowed family patriarch and East Los Angeles barber struggling to contend with his children – most of whom are grown and have lost touch with the family’s origins and identity. Meanwhile, his off-screen political involvement landed him in jail for 20 days after he was arrested in 2001 for taking part in the protests in Vieques, Puerto Rico against the U.S. Navy for their bombing target practices. Once he was through with “American Family,” Olmos landed perhaps his most lauded and recognized role, playing Admiral William Adama on the acclaimed sci-fi series, “Battlestar Galactica” (Sci Fi Channel, 2004- ). Adama reclaims command of the retiring Battlestar Galactica when the Cylons wage all-out war on humans, leaving behind less than 50,000 who struggle to evade the enemy while trying to find Earth. The series was acclaimed for its scorching parallels to the war on terrorism, torture, religious fundamentalism and living under suspicion.

During the show’s four-season run, Olmos was offered the opportunity to direct a couple episodes, revitalizing a passion that translated into landing several feature directing projects in development. On screen, he returned to the feature world with a supporting role as an inept police captain in “Splinter” (2006), a low-budget thriller directed by his son, Michael D. Olmos. He donned his admiral’s uniform again for “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” (Sci-Fi Channel, 2007), a two-hour made-for-cable movie that told the story of the Battlestar Pegasus in the months prior to finding the Galactica. Olmos remained more of a supporting character, however, as the movie focused on fictional son Lee Adama’s (Jamie Bamber) command of the Pegasus after the original commander, Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes), is killed by a Cylon she tortured in captivity. The cable movie served more as way to maintain interest for season four of “Battlestar Galactica,” which was set to air in early April 2008, though the second half was tentatively slated to air sometime in 2009 due to the Writers Guild of America strike in 2007-08.

Notes

In August 2001, Olmos was sentenced to 20 days in a federal prison for trespassing on US Navy land on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. At the time, the actor was protesting the Navy's use of the island for war games.

Olmos speaks on average 150 times a year in schools, detention homes, juvenile halls, migrant work camps, prisons, and American Indian reservations.

Olmos was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1992)

Producer-writer Floyd Mutrux, a friend of Olmos and a collaborator on "American Me," mused to The Los Angeles Times (Sept. 1, 1991): "Eddie is Eddie. We're friends. Good friends. But he gets those ideas, like, 'I could be governor of California, man. I'm the most visible Hispanic in America.' That's why he didn't like getting divorced. It put a kink in those plans. I tell him, 'Eddie, your picture is on the cover of Time magazine. But you know what? A week after it's out, the magazine is on the bottom of a bird cage.' Then we laugh. Hollywood's a bubble. The laughter is what brings us back to reality."

Reflecting on his early days while discussing his 1991 film, "American Me," Olmos noted, "It makes me cry and overwhelms and humbles me, what people have given at this point in my life. This is my life, my barrio. I've given my life and soul to it. I want to show that there's a cancer in this subculture of the gangs. They'll say, 'You've taken away our manhood with this movie.' I say to them, 'Either you treat the cancer or it'll eat you alive.'" - from The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 1, 1991

Steve Valdivia, executive director of Community Youth Gang Services in Los Angeles, recalled the December Season of Peace meeting in 1986: "We asked a number of the gangs, mostly Latino, not to kill each other from Thanksgiving to January 1st. Eddie Olmos was just someone we knew from 'Miami Vice.' But the grief, introspection and seriousness of his character was something we looked up to. He had a presence. A few days before the dinner, I got a crazy idea. I called the studio. They said he was in Miami. Five people later, I got Olmos. He said, 'What is this?' 'It's big,' I said. In 48 hours, he was on a plane. When he came into the dinner, there was a deadly silence. He hit 'em between the eyes. He gave himself as an example of how you can make it. We were all crying. At the end, the kids all sang 'Silent Night.' Olmos has a mission. It goes back to before he was born. The thing is, he does it from the heart. The heart does not lie." - from The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 1, 1991